Horological instrument.



H. A. BORRESEN.

HOROLOGICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION men MAY 27. 1913.

1 ,1 99,730. Patented Sept. 26,1916.

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I II n II II lllllliulll'l "n" llllllm 2% 1 M if W 2 1M M UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

HELGE A. BORRESEN, 0F MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO MAX W. ZOBEL,TRUSTEE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

HOROLOGIGAL INSTRUMENT.

Original application filed April 14, 1911, Serial No. 620,965.

Specification of Letters Patent.

1913- Serial No. 770,185.

To all whom it may concern 7 Be it known that I, HELGE A. BORRESEN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Marquette, in the county ofMarquette and State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Horological Instruments, of which the following is afull, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to horological instruments and has for its objectthe provision of improved instruments of this character greatlysimplified and capable of rendering a more highly eflicient service.

My present application is a divisional application of my applicationSerial No. 620,965, filed April 141, 1911, in which parent application Iam claiming certain features therein set forth, reserving for thisapplication other features as will be apparent from the appended claims.

This invention has for one of its objects the provision of means toincrease the available dial space. Y

My invention furthermore has for its object the provision of improvedguide tracks for hands of time pieces, and in one of its forms providesa dial with raised concentric tracks for the different hands, theelevation of the respective tracks being toward the center. Thisprovides improved dial facilities and at the same time increases thespace within which is available for the working mechanism.

My invention has for a further object improved means for fastening adial, and also improved means for fastening the movement within thecase.

It is a prime object of my invention to provide improved hand mountingmecha nism, and the cooperating parts in connection therewith so that Imay'incorporate the second hand concentrically and between the hour andminute hands, and my invention further contemplates improved dialarrangements applicable to these constructions and arrangements.Improved bearing facilities are one of the results of thisrearrangement.

' My invention in one of its forms likewise contemplates a separate anddistinct'bea-ring mechanism independen of the c nter arbor for one ofthe concentrically mounted driving sleeves.

My invention further contemplates improved facilities for guiding thehands over raised pyramid-like dial tracks.

With-these and other objects in view, my lnventlon consists in theimproved arrangement and construction of the parts as will all appearmore clearly hereinafter in the description thereof which I will now setforth in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part of thisspecification, in which:

Figure 1 is a front view of a horological instrument constructed inaccordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional view of aninstrument constructed in accordance w1th my invention; Fig. 3 is'adetail view of a portion of the operating mechanism illustratingfeatures of construction; Fig. 4 is a detail view of the hand guidingmechanlsm; Fig. 5 is a sectional view illustrating my improvedfrictional driving mechanism; Fig. 6 is a top view of a portion of myimproved frictional driving mechanism set forth in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is adetail view of the movement holding device; Fig. 8 is a detail view ofmy improved bearing or supporting device; Fig. 9 is a sectional view ofthe structure set forth in Fig. 8; Fig. 10 is a detail view of amodified form of dial holding means; Fig. 11 is a modified form of thestructure set forth in Fig. 10, and Fig. 12 is a view of my improveddetachable minute pinion and associated mechanism.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, I provide an improved dial14, which dial is formed pyramid-like of concentric raised portionssloping downwardly toward the periphery. I provide three tracksrespectively 15, 16 and 17 in different planes, and two of these tracksare surrounded con.- centrically by rails respectively 18 and 19. Thetrack 15 is designed for cotiperation with the hour hand 20 and thetrack 16 is designed for cooperation with the second hand 21. The track17 is designed for cooperation with the minute hand 22. The hour hand ispreferably guided upon the track 15 and is safeguarded againstinterference from the second hand 21 by virtue of the rail 19. Similarlythe second hand cooperates with the track 16 and the rail 18 serves as aguard. It will be app n r m tending from the rail 19. In this manner thehand may be guided by the rail in such a way as to not only limit itsdownward movement, but also its movement away from the dial. I showfurther in Fig. 2 improved means for supporting the dial 14, which meansconsists of pins 26 fastened to the dial 14, which pins have screwthreaded extremities 27. These pins project through the front plate 28and are engaged at their screw threaded extremities by means of nuts 29passing through the rear plate 30. These nuts are interiorly threaded toengage the pins 26 and to draw the dial tightly into position. The nuts26 are provided with flaring shoulders 31 which prevent them fromfalling out of the plate 30 when they are disengaged from the pins 26.These shoulders 31 are preferably provided after the nuts 29 have beeninserted through the plate 30. In this manner I am enabled to provide astructure by means of which the dial may be readily removed, and asreadily replaced a great many times without removing the movement fromthe case. In order that the drawing stress exerted by nuts 29 on pins 26shall not be communicated to the dial 14, I provide the shoulders 26 onthe pins 26. These shoulders 26 rest against the movement plate 28 andin this manner the tension is on the shoulders 26 and not on the dial.

In Fig. 10 I set forth a modified structure in which the nut 29 isprovided directly in the front plate 28 within a cylindrical aperture 32provided therein.

In Fig. 11 I set forth a nut 29 which is similar to the nut 29 exceptthat its screw threaded portion is split so that the said screw threadedportions may be adjusted to the wear of the screw 26, and propergripping efi'ort maintained in order to prevent the nut 29 fromaccidentally working loose.

As stated in connection with Fig. 1, the second hand is designed tooperate preferably between the hour and minute hands, and this isaccomplished by means of the improved structure and associated apparatusas set forth in Fig. 5. In this figure the driving spring 33 carries thecustomary gear wheel 34 which operates the center pinion 35. The centerpinion 35 carries fixedly secured thereto the center wheel 36 whichengages the pinion 37 to thereby drive the gear wheel 38 and therewiththe concentric second hand pinion 39, the advantages Iof which will bedetailedhereinafter. The center pinion 35 is mounted upon the center orminute arbor 40 which is provided with bearing surface both in the plate28 and the plate 30 as illustrated here in. This center pinion carriesthe minute hand 22 at its upper extremity and carries as before statedthe center pinion 35. In order to provide motion transmitting mechanismbetween the arbor 40 and the pinion 35, I utilize frictional devices,one embodi ment of which is set forth more clearly in Figs. 5 and 6 andconsists in this embodiment of a U-shaped spring 41 whose heel portion42 rests against the topof the center pinion 35 and center wheel 36 andwhose arms 43 extend beyond the hub edge of the center wheel 36 and areheld in place by the spokes 44 thereof. The arms 43 are rounded as shownin Fig. 5 and engage the upper inner surface of an annular groove 45provided in the center arbor 40, the spring action ofthe arms 43 beingsufficient when thus engaging the various parts to transmit the rotarymotion of the center pinion 35 to the center arbor 40. The arms 43 arealso so proportioned that they exert an inward radial gripping stressagainst the center arbor 40 to provide additional frictional effort. Thecenter arbor 40 carries a gear wheel 46 which meshes with wheel 47carrying the pinion 48. The gear wheel 48 drives the gear wheel 49 whichcarries the hour hand 20. This gear wheel 49 has a bearing disk 50 asmore clearly illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9 which is superposed in abridge 51 and rotatably mounted therein. The bridge 51 is held in placeby means of two screws 52, 52 as more clearly illustrated in 'Fig. 3.Super-posed on top of the gear wheel 49 'to suitably hold the samewithin the bearing provided by the bridge 51 is the cap 53 through whichthe center arbor 40 passes and this cap is held in place upon the bridge51 by means of the lugs 54 which engage the eyes 55 provided upon thebridge 51. By thus providing the bridge structure for the hour wheel sothat it is independently mounted, this hour wheel is prevented fromwabbling and can thus guide the hour hand perfectly in a parallel planeof the dial, and at the same time provide the proper end play of thehour wheel. It will thus be apparent that the concentric hour handdriving sleeve carried by the gear wheel 49 is independently mounted,and thus is relieved from any association with a concentric be'aring.This is of great advantage in permitting a centrally located concentricsecond hand driving sleeve 56 to be free from any contact with the saidhour Wheel mechanism.

On account of the great ratio of gearing between the second hand and themain spring the power available to drive the second handisfveryrslightand therefore this second hand sleeve must be free from interference andmust be mounted to rotate very freely. This is accomplished by operatingthe concentric second pinion 89 directly upon the extremely smallpivotal portion of arbor 40, and to further improve the bearingqualities of the pinion 39 the jewel bearing 57 may be incorporatedtherewith as shown clearly in Fig. 5.

The gear wheel 46 is fastened to the center arbor 40 in an improvedmanner so that it is readily removable and the structure by virtue ofwhich I obtain this result is indicated more clearly in Fig. 5 where thesaid arbor 40 has a cone shaped portion 58 where said gear wheel is tobe mounted, which cone shaped portion is provided with a slot 59. Thegear wheel 46 itself is slotted at 60 and has inwardly projecting ears61 conforming in general outline to the outline of the slot 59. Thisgear wheel 46 is made of springy material so that it can be sprung intoposition about the arbor 40 by virtue of the split character of the saidgear. The spring action of the said gear serves to hold the same inposition and also permits of ready removal of the said gear wheel forpurposes of inspection and repair. The ears 61 are also of particularadvantage when the hands are being set so that these ears may be againstthe sides of the groove 59 when the said gear wheel 46 is being turnedto set the hands, the said ears preventing any undue movement betweenthe adjoining portions of the gear where they are split, as shown at 60.Of course if the ears are absent and pressure is exerted against thegear teeth to rotate the gear, the adjoining portions of the gear at 60might separate.

In Fig. 7, I set forth an improved construction for holding the movementin place within the watch case. To this end the back plate of themovement 8'is provided with a recessed portion 65 which is adapted toreceive a T shaped plate 66 having a slot 67 therein. A screw 68provided in the lowest plate serves to hold the plate 66 in place. Thisplate 66 is adapted to be moved toward the left so that the movement canbe removed from the case. After the movement has been inserted, and itis desired to fasten the same, the plate 66 is moved radially outwardlyto engage the flange 69 in the case and the screw 68 is then fasteneddown to hold the movement in place. In this way the movement can befastened without entirely removing the screw 68. The plate 66 is roundedslightly and has a roughened top surface at 70 so that this plate mayrespond automatically to the movement of the screw, the loosening of thescrew drawing the said plate inwardly and the fastening of said screwmoving the said plate outwardly. The roughened surface of course isprovided only on one side of the slot 67 so that the plate 66 followsthe movement of the screw. The movement track of recess 65 guides theinnermost portion of plate 66 and prevents plate 66 from revolving whenscrew 68 is being turned. The serrated portion 70 of plate 66 alsoprevents screw 68 from accidentally working loose.

In thus describing my invention, I have described of course in detailone embodiment of each of the various features of my invention, withoutof course in any way tending thereby to limit myself to such embodimentor to any specific portion of the specification, as such specificdescription is merely given to illustrate one complete embodiment of theinvention. Having however thus described specifically one such completestructure, what I broadly claim as new and desire to secure by LettersPatent is:

1. A timepiece having a minute hand, an hour hand, and a second handoperating between said hour and minute hands.

2. A timepiece having a minute hand, an hour hand, and a second handoperating between said hour and minute hand, all of said hands operatingabout a common axis.

3. A system of time indication comprising a watch having a dial andconcentrically arranged hour, minute and second hands, said dial havingindicia corresponding to said hands, and said second hand being shorterthan said minute hand and operating between the hour and minute hands.

4:. A system of time indication comprising a watch having a dial, andconcentrically arranged hour, minute and second hands, said dial havingindicia corresponding to said hands, and said second hand being shorterthan the minute hand but longer than the hour hand and operating betweenthe hour and minute hands.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 23rd day of May,A. D., 1913.

HELGE A. BORRESEN. Witnesses:

DOLL WHEATON, E. A. BROWN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G.

It is hereby certified that the name of the assignee in Letters PatentNo. 1,199,730,

granted September 26, 1916, upon the application of Helge A. Borresen,of Marquette, Michigan, for an improvement in Horological Instruments,was erroneously written and printed as Max W. Zobel, whereas said nameshould have been written and printed as Max W. Zabel, as shown by therecord of assignments in this office; and that the said Letters Patentshould be read with this correction therein that the same may conform tothe record of the case in the Patent Oflice.

Signed and sealed this 24th day of October, A. D, 1916.

[SEVAL] F. W. H. CLAY,

Acting Commissioner of Patents.

It is hereby certified that the name of the assignee in Letters PatentNo. 1,199,730, granted September 26, 1916; upon the application of HelgeA. Borresen, of Marquette, Michigan, for an improvement in HorologicalInstruments, Was erroneously Written and printed as Max W. Zobel,Whereas said name should have been 'Written and printed as Max W. Zabel,asjshown by the record of assignments in this office; and that the saidLetters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the samemay conform to the record of the case in the Patent Ofiice.

Signed and sealed this 24th day of October, A. D, 1916.

[SEAL] I F. W. H. CLAY,

Acting Commissioner of Patents.

